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What what. Seems I can’t keep up with myself on these. Ah well, been busy! In the headphones and on the Mackie’s…noise, psych-rock, some steppin’ thing called chillstep…it’s all over the place As of Late.

Over the top excitement on this one! I’m currently on some sort of third or fourth listen of this new album from who seems to be a fairly new artist, Speck. I am utterly floored. Inside of ‘Find Me, Find Me’ I am completely lost, yet drifting in a sense of my own dismay, and enjoying it! The distortion on the guitars throughout this album is not for the faint of heart – Speck requires all of your attention and will to hold on. Moments of intensity almost unbearable at times will float right into pockets of beauty, often lead by a grand piano, or maybe a harp. Breathtaking. Very remniscent of Christian Fennesz’s various works, yet even drier on the noise sections of the pieces. I am taken aback by how well put together this entire 41 minutes are. The two ‘Harmonia (Hymn)’s are particularly standout, although the length of the album really runs together as one piece quite smoothly. Through the pieces lush riffs of melancholy vibrations lurk in the foreground, while pieces of what may be Speck’s life come twirling out at you in random patterns, making for a very disorienting ride…ride the waves of static, if you will. I’d never heard of the new Echotourist label before, but I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on them. If you’re a fan of noise, drone, field recordings, or of course, all three – this is not to be missed.

What can be said about The Black Angels? They are by far one of my favorite active bands of the time. I was introduced to them through a friend and was instantaneously sucked into their swirling tribal spiral. The on-point repetitive drumming through many of the tracks add an element of hypnosis, pulling you in even deeper to the realm of the late 60’s and early 70’s guitar heavy era. Groovy at times, if you will. Guitarist Christian Bland’s guitar lines are wet with pedals as can be, continuously. Flange, distortion, echo, and more…classic elements sounding fresh and inviting to your ears. Alex Maas’s vocals are soothing to the ears, pulling feelings of Morrison through your brain again. I had the pleasure of seeing them live (finally) this year in their hometown of Austin, Texas during their annual festival the Austin Psych Fest. Four days of 8-10 hours of non-stop rock music bliss. Their set was definitely a highlight out of the 50+ bands. While the group now has three full length’s, the first two are just enough in a different direction to really hold them in a special place in my heart. I will continue to follow this incredible project until they quit or disband, and know I will listen to these albums over and over for years to come!

: Stumbleine :~ chillstep, chillwave, lo.fi, electronic, shoegaze ~

Alright, think of taking a bit of Burial, Baths, My Bloody Valentine, Boards of Canada, Shigeto, and maybe even a bit of newer BT, smashing them all together seamlessly, and rather politely. That is the best way formulated to describe the sound heard from this project. Almost 40 tracks I’ve gone through from Stumbleinenow and I’m sucked in every time. This could easily the closest sounding to what may be true chillstep. Lush fields of nostalgia and new found love right after you lost a love are all around you. Bask in it, if you will. ‘Glacier’ from The Night Before is quite possibly the most listened to selection at the current moment. The soft echoing vocal calls you into the state of mind being spoken to you throughout this uplifting three minutes and forty four seconds of pure joy. Catchy popped riffs elegantly executed on top of the triple-clapped, crunched, and extremely wet snares; a style that has been becoming more and more of a standard within certain brands of subgenres of dubstep. Not much information has come out so far about Stumbleine. I honestly couldn’t find much intel out there in the good old World Wide Web besides the facts that the project is from the UK, joined Crackbook on 12/14/2010, and has a ton of music on their Soundcloud for you to fall in love with.

This has to be one of the most amazing albums of it’s kind. Every time I listen to it, which is somehow not more often, I am taken aback by mesmerizing beauty unfolding in my ears. Each track is carefully gliding right through your senses, filling them with another land, not far off, but just within reach over the horizon. The weather is beautiful, if you will. Being the only release on Sensotech, Russian Artem Galukhin (Артём Галухин) delivers a true masterpiece, one even the brothers of Boards of Canada, whom it seems to be partially inspired by, would appreciate. The pieces are synth haunting heavy throughout, yet always reminding you at all times how beautiful life actually can be (and is). Multi-layered drum sections allow you to gently ride the river down this immense drone filled cavern. Unfortunately Sensiva hasn’t been heard from in years at this point, but one can always hope that more material may surface someday. Definitely can sense this one being a favorite for many many years to come.

Phish~ rock, jam.band, folk, space jazz ~

This may surprise some of you to read this. Well, be surprised, be very surprised. I absolutely LOVE Phish. My first girlfriend ever introduced them to me through the “A Live One” live CD on Elektra back in 1996 or so. Since then I’ve had my waves of going in and out of listening to them non-stop, and this summer has been one of those IN times. Massively addicted with no end in sight, if you will. Along with the incredible collection of live shows that what.CDhas to offer, and working outside (Phishgoes great with the outside, don’t ya know?), there has been “way too much” Phish going on around the property according to my roomie. Beyond that I will say nothing, but I will list off a few of the selections I’m listening to on repeat lately:

Hampton Comes Alive – Wading In The Velvet Sea, Sabotage (Beastie Boys), Mike’s Song
“A Live One”: Gumbo, The Squirming Coil
2012/07/01, East Troy, WI: Gotta Jibboo, No Quarter (Led Zeppelin), Farmhouse, Happiness Is A Warm Gun (The Beatles)
2012/07/08, Saratoga Springs, NY: Foam, David Bowie, You Enjoy Myself
July 4th, 2010, Alpharetta, GA: This set is over the top! Bowie, Jibboo, Ghost>Waste, and a Mike’s Groove with Mike’s Song>Tela>Harpua>KILLING IN THE NAME OF (Rage Against The Machine)>Harpua>Weekapaug Groove. Encore with First Tube. Incredible show!!
Field of Heaven, Fuji Rock Festival, July 31, 1999 – Niigata, Japan: 2001

Glorious. Stumbled across this thickness through a good old friend of mine who knows more about the true sounds of dubstep as a whole more than anyone I know. He sent me over to his Soundcloud page, and the evening I decided to check it out, I ended listening to everything he has posted up, possibly multiple times. Extremely minimal, lush, subtle, cleanly dirty, and at a different than normal speed than most songs in what’s subgenre. Some of the best dubstep I’ve really…ever heard! Reminiscent of Kryptic Minds’sextremely clean yet spacious sounds, yet bringing in more of a light tough of Eastern influence instead of locking you away in the basement the whole time. Completely blown away. Wen has no official releases yet, but the mind’s behind Dusk + Blackdown seem to be keen on the youngster, with rumors of some output on their Keysound Recordings. We can only hope. Until then I will continue to soak in whatever he puts up on Soundcloud, which by the way is at this link: http://soundcloud.com/w3n/tracks Excited to see what the future hold’s for this newcomer!

Music, music, music, Life, music, music, MUSIC! It doesn’t stop. Overload the ears, but be nice to them with a safe listening volume. Brain swell. Incredible. Little mix of old and new on the ear drum As Of Late:

Pure, unfiltered, and in your face. Sweden’s Meshuggah step up their game quite a bit here with the experimental 47 minute opus “Catch Thirtythree“. The band’s 5th album, and only piece of this nature to this date, has always been quite the difficult listen – but can be extremely rewarding beneath the heavy and more often than not darker undertones of the piece. Stepping into a more texturous flow inside themselves, layers and layers of guitars come whirling out at you, with electronically sequenced samples of the drummer (in place of the drummer physically playing the kit) for the first time in the band’s career. Jazz elements present themselves at times. The album is lyrically said to float through specific paradoxes, hence the title “Catch Thirtythree“(as in the phrase ‘catch twenty-two‘). Complete with an intermission or sorts during ‘In Death – Is Death’, this is the one space on the album where everything isn’t driving at full speed metal ahead. After death or course is an awakening, and you’ll definitely find one if you’re able to push through this opus.

: BT :
: If The Stars Are Eternal So Are You And I : Laptop Symphony : 2012 :~ ambient, glitch, experimental, modern.classical ~

BT. The man has simply been all over the place with his music, and all over the world because of it. I used to see him back at NAF Studios, full on rave status Dj, blowing up trance like there would never be an end to that style of synth line (is there yet??). He’s made dance music, soundtracked, and he’s also put out some extremely beautiful experimental works. 2006 brought the first of these more experimental works, “This Binary Universe“. I’d never listened to BT‘s music on the regular until that point, but that album, along with the incredible video work from LA’s Scott Pagano, one of my favorite visual artist’s, had me as a quick convert. “ITSAESAYAI” is said to be the follow up to the beginning of a new direction for BT. “ITSAESAYAI” provides you once again with beauty from all ends of the spectrum. With seven tracks ranging from the 7 – 14 minute range, the journey had me sucked in the entire time the first listen (which proceeded to be three full listens the day I got it – something that very rarely happens around here). The disc is mainly comprised of gorgeous waves of ambient pads fluttering with organic instrumentation, glitch of the most precise nature, and every once in a while, bassy beat driven sections spanning from dubstep, to chilled out techno, to glitched out breaks. I can definitely see this being on my ‘Top 10 of the Year’ already. Even though I believe the whole album is incredible, ‘Our Dark Garden’ has been standing out quite a bit – one of the more vocal driven tracks on the album, it brings you to a place of pure bliss if you let it, gliding through a land of harmony…with loads of fluffy clouds to lay on. A masterpiece of an album…highly recommend checking this one out.

Broken Social Scene’s second album witness’ the band changing up a few aspects quite heavily – one being adding numerous members to the group, and two being to start pumping out forward rock jams, a drastic change from their mainly post-rock ambient styled first album “Feel Good Lost“. One might think this could get quite messy. Well, they pull it off, and it’s done so well that it’s still my favorite album of theirs! Starting off where “Feel Good Lost“left off, the album starts off with a post-rock ambient piece, and then leads directly into where the sound has grown up – rock based grooves with plenty of experimental noise of all sorts going on underneath. Horn sections, waves of ambience, static based noise, tons of guitar distortion, and epic amounts of screaming through plenty of filters of many types. This almost sums up the album, except you end up with pieces like the widely known ‘Anthems For A Seventeen Year-OldGirl‘, ‘Pacific Theme’,and ‘Looks Just Like The Sun’, hitting elements of ambient based indie folk tunes, making you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. ‘Anthems’ specifically has a special feel to it – they’re not joking around with that title – you feel like a seventeen year old girl hanging out in her room starting at the mirror and wondering about her emotional state. ‘Pacific Theme’ takes you on a drive on Highway 101 through Northern California and Southern Oregon, exploding in on itself in one of the grooviest grooves ever right around the 4:10 mark. The album consists of segments of similar sounds, usually three to four songs at a time, which makes the whole journey feel extremely conducive. All in all, absolutely spectacular album, and now a for sure classic for the books! Have to toss out another shout out to my old friend Steve Salisbury for turning me on to these guys (and this album) way back when!

Seattle based Danny VanHollebeke comes marching out of the ether with his first full length LP under the alias True Dream. The layers of which this pop masterpiece consist of make it easy to tell that nothing but the utmost consideration, concentration, and careful attention to detail have been placed into this work. Having spent seven years putting the album together with all it’s finishing touches, a story is woven here, a story of life, feelings, and consciousness at it’s level of striving for love. The album presents itself to you in the form of pop, but boasts elements of waltz, ambient, metal, 60’s, 80’s, dream pop, doo-wop, and indie rock – all enveloped by a layer of light experimentalism to infuse it all together. As Todd Hamm of the Seattle Weekly said, “think doom-wop”. Even deeper we find out that all aspects of the music, including the vocals, are played and made by VanHollebeke. At only 32 minutes, the piece will quickly bring you from happiness glee to reverent melancholy, keeping a fairly moving undertone throughout. Personal favorites? The whole thing!! From the moment the title track reached my ear, and all the way through to the Brian Eno inspired ambient ‘Decomposition‘, Danny’salbum has me captivated and invested, repeatedly. I purchased the finished product sometime last year, it has been through constant rotation on all my players – at home base, and on the road. You can find True Dream’s“The Night Again“ on iTunes here: |— CLICK —| Fantastic work Danny!

Since 2009, the illusive Lancastrian outfit known as Demdike Starehave been birthing into the Universe some of the world’s most unusual and forward thinking sounds inside of the dark ambient/drone, witch house, and experimental realms. Really though, their music is flat out at times, indescribable. Hinting on elements of tribalism, folk, and neo-paganism, it seems as though Sean Cantry and Miles Whittaker are attempting to call back in the witches who were once running around rampant in the area the group comes from, especially with the “Demdike” name hailing from Elizabeth Southern, the supposed leader of the Pendle Witches. After their three part release in 2010, I knew never to miss anything from the duo again. Released as four parts on colored vinyl, with a full double-disc CD release in 2012, this new collection of works leaves you feeling as though some sort of ancient underworld Earthen being has gobbled up your thought processes, and spit them out into a dark new reality that makes you feel…haunted! Even as OCD in describing genres as I love to be, this disc leaves me so floored that it’s hard to put into words. Take the track “Mnemosyne” for instance – their is a backbone of some stripped down 135bpm dubstep styled beat in there, but beneath that, you feel as though you’re in the middle of a longhouse in the 1600’s and the coven you belong to is about to sacrifice some sort of lamb or goat or small furry animal – AND it’s a joyous occasion. Elements of dark drone plaster the album, taking over sections of otherwise beat oriented music, out of no where. Little nods to Aphex Twin’s more twisted and disturbing sound experiment works come out of the woodwork at times, making me think back to a track off 2001’s “Drukqs“, ‘Gwarek2‘, by far one of the more perverse 6 minutes of sound my mind can really think of. All in all I could sit here and try and describe “Elemental” to you all day, but really you just need to bust out your best pair of speakers, turn off all the lights, sit next to a fire (inside or outside), and let yourself immerse into another world. Genius work!

If you haven’t heard of Paul Rose’sScuba at this point, you’ve definitely been hiding under some sort of rock underneath the top layer of soil of the Earth for the past…oh, five years or so. Probably more. The official headmaster of one of the most forefront running labels out there today, Hotflush Recordings, Rose has been helping advance the sound of 2-step and dubstep alike now for over 10 YEARS – amazing really! Everything this man touches that I have found, I have been into (minus maybe two or three songs on his latest LP, “Personality“). This edition of the DJ-Kicks series is absolutely no exception. Starting off with a lovely deep ambient piece to set the mood, from Hotflush’s Sigha, the mix begins with a churning of techno cross bred with 2-step influences and does nothing but pick up and get groovier from there. Sitting around 132bpm for the length of the mix allows the blend between the crossover of styles to mesh flawlessly . Track selection, programming, mixing – PERFECT. You’ll notice that each song tracked out lasts for just over a minute to just under three minutes (with a few exceptions) – proof of the generous amount of layering going on between selected tracks for the majority of the journey. Notable tracks to dig for on their own: Peverlist’s ‘Sun Dance‘, Trevino’s ‘Shorty‘, Boddika’s ‘Acid Battery‘, Scuba’s ‘M.A.R.S.‘ (made specifically for the mix), Jichael Mackson’s‘Gedons‘, and Sepalcure’sgorgeous ‘Inside‘, which provides the mixes outro and end point. This is how it’s done properly people – Know This!

Injoy. See ya hopefully sooner than later this next time. I’m going to attempt to do this once a week at this point, as well as randomly posting interesting bits of all sorts of finds from the net and beyond into this Blog, so, stay tuned!

Found this fantastic 46 minute mix from XIlast night on Hotflush Recordings website! Party bass vibe, but Toronto’s dubstep brain child does it right by also making it proper for your dome! Includes the incredible reconstruct of Sepalcure’s“Love Pressure” – a track is worth seeking out on it’s own. The edits made to the track are remarkable!